


three of hearts

by Little Keplerette (classycloudcuckoolanderclasso)



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, established friendship between the trio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-29 19:29:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12091842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/classycloudcuckoolanderclasso/pseuds/Little%20Keplerette
Summary: All you need are seven friends who think you're cool, and two best friends who think you're lame but love you anyway.That's all you need to feel the magic.





	three of hearts

**Author's Note:**

> A pretty little anon gave me the most wonderful plot bunny, and I feel like I owe it to everyone else who read blooming, blooming, dead to write something much happier for my little baby OT3, Nerriston.
> 
> Of course, I'm probably going to write something sad for them again because that's just me, but I have to write this out or it'll never stop bothering me! So here you go.

Parents' Day was, for lack of a better term, pretty normal, if one were to compare it to their everyday activities.

After Cameron Campbell had been carted away by Ered's fathers and sent to Super Guantanamo, the parents and guardians remaining had decided that it'd be best to let the kids finish their summer at Camp Campbell, seeing as that there were only two more weeks of summer vacation left, anyway, before they all had to go back to school and their daily lives. The thought of never seeing their fellow campers again in two weeks had, predictably, dampened the mood for the children, but soon after, David and Gwen had returned, and, through some strange hand of fate, had somehow managed to wrangle the rights to the grounds of Camp Campbell from Campbell from the officers that had come up to the camp to ask why the hell FBI agents had carted away the founder of the camp.

If you had asked eleven year old Harrison, he was slightly relieved to be staying at Camp Campbell for two more weeks. That meant he still had two more weeks to spend with friends, away from family - a family that, while not mistreating him in any way, remained absolutely terrified of what he couldn't control. It wasn't exactly a very cheerful prospect, going back home.

He'd take hanging out with his friends over being treated like the devil any day.

"Mom! Mom!"

Harrison perked up at the sound of Nerris's voice, only to shrink back as Nerris led her parents by the hand to where he and his parents were standing. To their credit, his parents looked only slightly anxious at their approach, but were otherwise visibly surprised as Nerris whacked Harrison over the head with her sword.

"Nerris!" Her mother chastised. "You don't just go around hitting people with your sword, even if it's a fake sword."

Nerris shook her head before draping an arm over Harrison's shoulders, much to his surprise. Despite himself, his cheeks tinted pink - something that did not escape Nerris's father, who only raised an eyebrow knowingly at him before turning to Harrison's parents. "Sorry about our little elf. She's very excitable."

"It's... alright," Harrison's father said carefully, studying Harrison and Nerris thoughtfully before saying, "You must be the Nerris Harrison told us about in his letters."

Nerris blinked up at him before staring at Harrison. "You write letters to your parents about me?"

"And Preston!" Harrison yelped, shrinking back into his collar in embarrassment. He had only mentioned Nerris and Preston a few times in his letters, and Neil in one, hadn't he? "Don't think you're special o-or anything!"

Dissatisfied with his answer, Nerris gently tugged at both of his cheeks, stretching his face out. "Liaaaar. I know you too well. I always roll a nat 20 on Perception checks around you and Preston, you can't lie to me. Besides, it's rude to lie to a lady."

Harrison only stuck out his tongue at her. He wished his cheeks would stop being red already.

"And you must be the Harrison Nerris rants about in her letters," Nerris's father laughed. "You two do seem like quite the odd pair."

"DAAAAAD!" Nerris whined, letting go of Harrison's face. To her advantage, the dark tone of her skin made it nearly impossible to see the blush spreading across her cheeks. "I write about Preston too! Don't make him think he's special or anything, he's just a dumb ol' dwarf!"

"I dunno, Nerris," Her father replied sagely, crouching down to examine Harrison from head to toe. "He seems more like a dragonborn to me."

"What are you... talking about?" Harrison's mother asked, terror creeping into her voice. "My son isn't a... isn't a  _dragon_."

Nerris's mother sighed, and answered apologetically, "It's terminology in their little game of Pixies and Pythons, I think? I personally don't understand that sort of thing, but it makes my husband and daughter happy, so I just go along with it. I'm sure my husband meant no harm."

"It means your son is a brave little guy. Sorry about making you think otherwise." Nerris's father apologized, bowing slightly. "Will you be letting him stay here at Camp Campbell for the last two weeks?"

"Yes," The two parents said simultaneously, and, if one had paid close attention like Harrison had, one would have picked up on their flicker of panic at the possibility of  _not_ letting him stay longer. "He's... he'll be better here for the last two weeks, won't he?"

As the parents began to converse, Nerris slipped her fingers into Harrison's in the blink of an eye, and, before he could even comprehend it, she had already pulled him away from the parents and headed in Preston's direction. The thespian was currently standing next to his grandmother, who was having a wonderful conversation with Buzz Aldrin and Dolph's father, Lieutenant Houston, while Space Kid and Dolph were talking by themselves, and quite frankly he looked rather bored.

Until he saw Nerris approach.

"Gram-Gram, I'm going to go talk to Nerris and Harrison, okay?" Preston informed her before thudding his way over to the two magic kids, sighing loudly in relief. "Thank the LORD I got away from THAT conversation!"

"Parent talk is weird and quite frankly boring," Nerris declared. "You guys want to sit on Harrison's stage?"

* * *

They talked through the rest of the evening, sitting on the edge of Harrison's stage about anything and everything under the sun. They talked about Nerris's parents, and Preston's grandmother, and Harrison's parents. They talked about Ered's cool gay dads, and Buzz Aldrin. They talked about Neil and Nikki's parents, and Nurf's mother, and, for a brief moment, mentioned the Fartz family.

The conversation quickly turned to a different topic after that.

"So... two more weeks, huh?" Nerris laid down on the stage, staring up at the starry night sky. Preston and Harrison looked at each other before following her example, lying down on either side of her and staring up at the sky as well. "Can't believe summer's almost over."

"I can't BELIEVE I'll have to be dealing with AMATEURS in school again," Preston groaned, dramatically draping a hand over his forehead. "Granted, our fellow campers were NOT much better, but I'll take the PLATYPUS over my schoolmates ANY day!"

"I'm finally going to be allowed to start my own LARPing club at school this year, so it's gonna be great!" Nerris said cheerfully before they both turned to Harrison. "What about you, Harrison? What are you going to do back in school?"

"Me?" Harrison pondered, and sighed. "I guess I'm just gonna go back to being me. In the background."

"You? In the background?" Preston sat up. "ABSURD. The day you melt into the BACKGROUND is the day you lose your MAGIC TOUCH. Don't lie to me."

"Why are both of you saying I'm lying tonight?" Harrison wailed, making both of his friends snicker. "I swear! I'm not exactly supposed to be out there in my old school. I think my mother would have a heart attack if I set the school on fire by accident. Nobody knows I'm really magic in my old school..." His voice dropped down into a low mumble. "... my parents told me to hide that."

Nerris sat up as well, frowning. "Your friends don't know you have magic?"

"I do my illusions! Like, regular magic tricks, the card and the coin stuff," Harrison sat up to face both of them, but he didn't meet their eyes. He fiddled with the edge of one of his gloves absently. "Sometimes they think my tricks are cool."

"But your friends don't know you have magic."

"..." Harison glanced away.

Preston frowned. "Harrison."

"... I didn't really have any friends," Harrison admitted after a few minutes, drawing his knees up to his chin and sighing, wrapping his arms around his legs, hoping to hide away from the world. "Especially after they found out I made my brother disappear."

* * *

**_Look, it's the evil kid! He made his brother disappear!_ **

**_Why didn't YOU disappear instead?_ **

**_He was just a baby! And you made him disappear forever!_ **

**_Man, what a freak!_ **

* * *

"Not one friend?" Nerris whispered, genuinely dismayed. "That can't be true."

"Not one... save for you guys here," The illusionist sighed into his knees. "You guys were the only ones who treated me normally. You two, Max and his friends, and Dolph and the others... you all appreciated me and my magic. You didn't shun me."

Preston crossed his arms. "There was NOTHING to shun, Harrison."

"Exactly!" Nerris flashed her friend a thumbs up. "Remember when you set me on fire the first time we met?"

"Oh  _God,_ " Harrison groaned, pulling his hat lower down on his head. "That was mortifying."

"Yeah, but..." Nerris wagged a finger at him. "I told you that you were cool then."

The brunet finally looked up. "What, so I'm not cool now?"

"You wish, loser!" Nerris shoved him gently, and the trio laughed before they fell into silence once more. 

The sounds of crickets chirping echoed through the air for a few pleasant minutes before Preston said earnestly, "The POINT being... you didn't have friends before, right? NOW, you DO!" He draped an arm over Nerris's shoulder. "You have TWO best friends and SEVEN other good friends right here at Camp Campbell. Isn't that such an AMAZING thing? SO MANY FRIENDS!"

Harrison stared at Preston, then at Nerris. Both had encouraging smiles on their faces, and, for once, his heart felt much lighter. He smiled back at them. "... Thanks, guys."

"Nerris! We're about to go!"

"Preston, dear, say goodbye to your grandmother before she goes!"

"Harrison, son."

The voices of each guardian called out in the cool night air - Nerris's father, Preston's grandmother, and Harrison's father respectively - , startling the trio out of their reverie. With a renewed sense of friendship, they slid off of the stage that belonged to Harrison's magic camp before heading towards the mess hall to bid farewell.

Nerris's father swung her around before he and his wife hugged her tightly and boarded the bus, while Grandma Goodplay pinched Preston's cheeks and allowed Preston to plant a kiss on her own cheek before carefully following after Nerris's family. Finally, Harrison's parents gave their son cautious and awkward hugs farewell.

Harrison didn't want to admit it, but the moment his mother let go of him to board the bus again, he felt just a little sadder.

As the bus departed and disappeared from sight, David walked up to the trio and placed a hand on the shoulders of Nerris and Harrison, who were on either side of Preston. There was a somber look to his face that they didn't miss, but the man continued to smile as he asked, "You campers ready for bed?"

"..." They all looked at each other before Harrison nodded, smiling softly. "Yeah, David."

* * *

Halfway into the first of the last two weeks, Max, Neil, and Nikki all caught the flu, and had to stay bedridden.

At around the same time, Harrison, Nerris, and Preston somehow managed to end up chasing the Woodscouts halfway across the country after bargaining with the Flower Scouts for a portion of Preston's stolen manuscript.

Neil made the hypothesis that if the three of them were sick, the troubles and mayhem would end up looking for a different trio - in this case, their trio. The performance trio dismissed it as the ramblings of a sick genius.

By the third time they ended up in a ridiculously comedic adventure as a trio of friends - which had involved Preston getting mistaken for a lost princess, somehow - , they reconsidered Neil's words.

"Have you ever thought about whether or not we should all try getting sick together and see who the troubles will chase after?" Nerris asked as they all trudged back to camp, soaking wet and covered in seaweed.

Preston had it the worst, having been dressed prior in a beautiful but extremely heavy seaweed dress over his usual clothing. With a harrumph, he conceded, "We COULD. But Ered, Space Kid, Nurf, and Dolph aren't a TRIO like the rest of us."

"Maybe it'll affect all four of them?" Harrison offered, shaking some fish out of his hat. "They could be considered a quartet. That's still a team, right?"

Nerris opened her mouth, ready to answer, when suddenly, she sneezed. Triggered by this, Harrison and Preston sneezed as well, until all three of them were sneezing repeatedly. By the time they had made it back to camp, the seaweed dress had already fallen to pieces, with only a few more pieces of seaweed stuck to him and his clothes, the rest in a trail behind him, and the three of them sneezing like crazy.

"Jesus, kids, where'd you even go?" Gwen grumbled, escorting them to the nearest bathroom to take a bath before tucking them into bed.

"The bottom of Lake Lilac," The three answered offhandedly.

Gwen didn't ask further.

The day after, whilst in bed, the three managed to catch wind of Ered and Nurf having to chase down a bear that had adopted Space Kid and Dolph in the woods, and laughed to themselves.

* * *

_**GOD'S RADIO ☆☆☆ The Institution for Gifted Jerks ☆☆☆** _

__**Nerris the Cute ☆☆☆**  
man, what i wouldn't give to be back at camp, strangely enough  
the larpers at school don't know how to larp at all!!! it's hell trying to be the president of the club!!!

**_no ☆☆☆  
_** speak for yourself nerris i dont want to see that hellhole ever again

**_ikk ☆☆☆  
_** lmao u say that but u totaly mis daviddddddddddddd ; ))00))))0

**_no ☆☆☆  
_** nikki i will stab you

**_The Superior Neil ☆☆☆  
_** No Stabbing In My Chatbox

**_ikk ☆☆☆ changed The Superior Neil☆☆☆'s nickname to NO FUN ALLOWED ☆☆☆_ **

**_NO FUN ALLOWED ☆☆☆  
_** Dammit Nikki

__**AND PEGGY ☆☆☆**  
I TOO, WISH TO RETURN TO CAMP  
FOR REASONS I WILL NOT DISCLOSE  
EXCEPT I WILL TOTALLY DISCLOSE THEM  
I MISS HARRISON AND NERRIS

**_Nerris the Cute ☆☆☆  
_** awww, we miss you too

__**it's magic, silly! ☆☆☆**  
how have you guys been, anyway?  
it's only three months left until school is over, anyway.

__**picasso junior ☆☆☆**  
I want to go back to Camp Campbell. I could paint there whenever I wanted!  
Is it still Camp Campbell?

__**B) ☆☆☆**  
wasnt it changed to like __  
camp david or campe david

**_SPAAAAAAAAAACE ☆☆☆☆☆☆  
_** CAMPE DAVID!!!!!!!!!

__**AND PEGGY ☆☆☆**  
YES, IT WAS CAMPE DAVID  
THAT'S WHAT GWEN SAID

**_it's magic, silly! ☆☆☆  
_** preston i can hear you yelling from over here? it's ridiculous!

**_ikk ☆☆☆  
_** r u a superhuman ?? ? ???/? ??

**_NO FUN ALLOWED ☆☆☆  
_** I Think He Means He Can Visualize Preston Yelling

__**it's magic, silly! ☆☆☆**  
no i swear, i can hear him from where i'm seated in the park right now?  
it's jarring to hear him and read the text at the same time!

__**AND PEGGY ☆☆☆**  
WAIT  
WHAT PARK

__**it's magic, silly! ☆☆☆**  
the park near my school? it has really good wifi.  
hunter park.

**_AND PEGGY ☆☆☆  
_** OH MY GOD

**_Nerris the Cute ☆☆☆  
_** i'm going to give it three seconds

**_it's magic, silly! ☆☆☆  
_** gkadfljkldflKFJljlsfj jfklh dklsfj sdjklf. fdl'

**_B) ☆☆☆  
_** is he ok

**_no ☆☆☆  
_** probably dead or dying doesnt matter

**_it's magic, silly! ☆☆☆ sent a photo to the group GOD'S RADIO ☆☆☆ The Institution for Gifted Jerks ☆☆☆_ **

__**no ☆☆☆**  
yup hes dead rip in pieces harrison  
you got your ass murdered by a loser in a frilly collar  
congratulations  
you just got lamer

**_shit ☆☆☆  
_** cccn you guys shut up f or a minut im tryign to beat this kdi

**_shit ☆☆☆  
_** in dddr

**_NO FUN ALLOWED ☆☆☆  
_** I Think I Speak For All Of Us When I Say That We Nearly Had A Heart Attack Thinking You Were Bullying Someone Again

__**shit ☆☆☆**  
if he loses im kiking his ass  
if he wins im kickin his asss  
its a win win for me

**_NO FUN ALLOWED ☆☆☆  
_** Sigh

**_ikk ☆☆☆  
_** fffff i heard u si g h from the other room lmaoooo

* * *

Years passed on. Classes and summers came and went.

Their friendships, however, did not.

* * *

"I can't believe this was our final year at Campe David," Harrison mused.

The trio of friends were once more sitting on what was known as magic camp's stage, though to many it was best known as Harrison's stage. The ten original campers during the time of Camp Campbell were considered senior campers to the younger ones, and while they shared their specific areas with the younger campers, they all attributed specific sections of the camp to them in particular, and actively knew when to avoid said areas.

Harrison, on his end, had acquired at least five younger campers in magic camp in awe of his real magic abilities, and said five loved to follow him around like ducklings, asking him questions. Nerris had a whole squadron of young LARPers who actually knew better than the ones in her LARPing club in her school, which made her heart dance wildly with excitement every time they had a campaign. Even Preston had his own eager batch of aspiring actors and actresses willing to please him.

Nikki's adventure camp was very popular with the younger ones, as was Ered's extreme sports camp, but Neil's science camp and Space Kid's space camp had their own fair share of happy campers willing to learn from their elders. Dolph's art camp was always busy doing something, and Nurf, in Gwen and David's stead, had begun to manage behavioral correction camp, having learned much better over the years. And Max? He managed knitting  _and_ music camp. David had shed a few tears over it.

"Can't believe there's an age limit to begin with," Nerris agreed, flopping down backwards on the stage. The two boys followed suit. "I'm gonna miss this place."

"I'm going to miss YOU TWO," Preston murmured. "We're still going to HANG OUT, right? During NORMAL DAYS?"

"Duh." Nerris flicked his nose.

Harrison took off his hat, and pulled out a picture of the three of them from their first year as best friends in Camp Campbell. He sighed. "Six to seven years of friendship."

"Wow. Didn't even notice it had taken that long." Nerris murmured in awe.

Preston sighed dramatically. "Oh, HOW THE YEARS HAVE FLOWN BY. We must not FORGET them."

"I'm gonna miss this old hunk of junk," Harrison laughed, patting the stage they were sitting on wistfully. "Performing magic tricks here had always been fun."

"Show us another magic trick, for old times' sake?" Nerris prodded. "We're going to have the farewell ceremony tomorrow."

Preston nodded vigorously. "YES! Just for the two of us. We know you got better over the years, DIDN'T YOU?"

"Of course I did!" Harrison preened before Nerris cuffed the side of his head. "Ow! Nerris, you know it's true!"

"Prove it then, you loser!" Nerris laughed. The two boys laughed with her as she added, "Come on, prove to me you're the better magic kid."

"Well, okay," Harrison motioned for the two to get off the stage, and they did, taking their seats on the grass in front of Harrison's stage, while the teen rummaged through magic camp's equipment, pulling out a few things to get his trick set up. In a few minutes, he was ready, and with a sweeping bow, he declared, "And now, for my final trick, I shall make something wonderful appear!"

Preston vibrated in his seat. "WHAT IS IT? Is it a BROADWAY DEAL? Ah, I can't HANDLE the EXCITEMENT! AH!"

"Shut up, Preston!" Nerris elbowed him, laughing.

Harrison winked. "Ah, that's the secret, Preston! All I know is that it will be wonderful - even I don't know what exactly it will be!" He turned to the box he had on the stage, and with a loud declaration of "ABRACADABRA!", he tapped the box with his magic wand three times on the top, and twice on each side.

Silence.

"And now, we will see what we have!" Harrison opened the box up.

And then, he froze.

"... Who the HECK is THAT?" Preston stared.

Nerris did a double take at the person that emerged from the box, coughing, and with a startled shriek, she grabbed Preston's shoulders, shaking them wildly. "PRESTON! PRESTON, LOOK AT HIS-"

"-eyes..." Preston's own eyes widened as a young boy emerged from the box, blinking slowly and stretching. There was no denying the similarities they saw with the little boy and their best friend. "And his nose too... and his hair..."

Harrison was like a statue, frozen in place, as the boy turned to face him, grinning widely. "That was fun! Do it aga- whoa," The boy looked him up and down, eyes wide. "You look older. Who are you?"

"..." The illusionist sank to his knees. "E... Evan?"

"Uh, yeah?" The little boy - Evan - crossed his arms. "Have you seen my brother, Harrison? He looks a lot like you, but like, younger. He's only five years older than me, so that makes him eleven, and me six- whoa!"

Harrison, lost for words, immediately wrapped the little boy up in a hug, tears cascading down his cheeks. The little boy, Evan, on his part, wanted to break away, but for some reason, the hug seemed... familiar, and the teenager was shaking all over as he hugged him, so he resorted instead to just staying still, letting the stranger (?) hug and cry it all out. Looking around, Evan didn't recognize the place - it was all forest, and there were weird little setups everywhere, and- two other weird people, sitting on the grass?

"Who are you?" Evan pointed at Nerris and Preston before pointing at Harrison, who was still shaking as he held Evan close to him. "And do you guys know why he's crying all over me?"

Nerris and Preston looked at each other, and, quietly, they approached the stage. "My name is Nerris."

"Weird name." Evan commented. "How about this guy in the frilly collar?"

"Preston," Preston introduced himself. "We're your brother Harrison's best friends."

Eyes that looked way too much like Harrison's lit up in delight. "You know where Harrison is?"

"... He's hugging you right now."

Evan froze, then looked back at the teenager hugging him. Recoiling, he stepped backwards, and examined Harrison from head to toe before butting heads with him, staring eye to eye. Harrison didn't move - he remained on his knees, waiting, until finally, Evan declared, "Mom was right."

"... What?" Harrison finally allowed himself to wipe away his tears. "What do you mean?"

Evan grinned wildly. "You  _would_ grow into your looks."

Silence.

With a choked sob, Harrison embraced Evan tightly again. "You suck, Evan."

"I know."

And this time, Evan embraced him right back.

**Author's Note:**

> my personal headcanon was that when harrison made his brother disappear, he was trapped in a pocket dimension where he didn't age at all, and said pocket dimension was full of things he liked, like bunny rabbits and flowers and fun ladybugs, so he wouldn't have been in pain because his brother sent him to a place full of wonderful things for him to enjoy???
> 
> i just want them happy again please


End file.
